One Sick Family Dinner
by Larastiel
Summary: Human AU. As the holidays come around, it's time to gather up the whole family again. Mary is sick of worry, Dean is sick of nosy family members, Sam is sick of being confused off his ass and John just wonders why this had to happen to him. There might also be a few Singer-Harvelles casually snooping around.


_First of all: my darling beta, feathers-and-pie (Ao3), I adore you and thank you for your brilliant work. Go give her hugs!_

_This is an attempt at failing some finals since I have a shitload of those coming up now but eh, I had fun. Warning for some crude language 'cause filtering that out is hard. This was first posted to Ao3 and now I finally bothered to put it here too.  
_

_I'm a terrible role model, don't take any inspiration from me but do enjoy the thing I made yay_

_-Lara_

* * *

Sam had been in town for 20 minutes flat and he could already sense something was off. He'd been going to Stanford University in California for two years now, and this year he'd decided to return home to Lawrence for the holidays since Jess would be spending Thanksgiving and Christmas with her folks in Ohio. Due to the considerable distance between Stanford and his family's home they only saw each other a couple of times a year. Naturally, Sam was thrilled to get back to his relatives and family friends alike. It had been too long, and he'd figured that Dean might just wet his pants from excitement when Sam finally got off the plane. His brother always seemed to forget his macho front when it came to his "precious little bro Sammy", as the man himself had eloquently put it numerous times.

As the younger brother he had always taken pride in his ability to read his older sibling's intentions and to predict his actions, but today he had to reconsider that claim. For the first time ever, Dean hadn't shown up.

* * *

"So... is Dean sick or something?" John glanced at Sam before sliding his eyes back to the road. "I mean, he usually picks me up whether I ask for it or not," Sam continued, "y'know, doing the over-excited dog routine of his?"

John's brows scrunched at the statement, setting off some louder alarm bells in Sam's head. "That boy ain't sick as far as I know, just said he had some short-notice obligation at work and took off. Who knows, there haven't been any fires today so the department should be just on stand-by right now. He's not officially on shift so my guess is some leftover paperwork. Wouldn't be the first time, who raised him that lazy I'll never know."

"I thought he had the next four days off?"

"He does, but still... Just asked me to get you and said he'd try to be home when we get there." This wasn't making any sense. Since when did firemen have so much paperwork they needed to call someone in to take care of it during their vacation? "Dean does that sometimes," John continued, "but he'll be home, son. After all, Mary's already making dinner and that ain't something your brother wants to miss."

Sam chuckled at that, but couldn't shake off the strange feeling for the rest of the drive.

* * *

Dinner was weird. And by 'weird' Sam meant that a lot of little things seemed to be out of place; nothing major, but his senses were screaming at him that something was going on, and Dean was at the heart of it.

His welcome hadn't been any less overjoyed than all the times before and his mom's lasagna was as good as always. Jo and Ellen had come to see him too, Ellen dragging a grumbling Bobby with them. It was great to see everyone again after such a long time, but he couldn't help but notice the worried glances Mary kept sending Dean's way.

While the others were debating some car restoration plan of John and Bobby's, Sam seized the chance to grill Jo concerning the situation.

"Please tell me why mom looks at my brother like he's got stage four cancer?" Jo bit her lip, glancing quickly in Dean's direction before opening her mouth.

"You've been gone for like half a year, and even we don't really know but... Did you notice anything different about him?"

Sam shook his head hesitantly. Jo sighed tiredly and ran a hand through her blonde hair. More reminders of the time that had passed since Sam's last visit: he remembers it being shorter. "Well he's lost some weight, for one thing. You might've noticed he isn't inhaling everything edible he can reach like he used to before – and two months ago he took up running. In the mornings. That just ain't natural – at least for him!"

"Isn't that a good thing? Maybe he finally decided try out a more healthy lifestyle?"

"It's Dean we're talking about, and this goes against everything he stands for. He just gets up and disappears almost every morning to jog for an hour."

He had to admit, she did make an excellent point. "Okay, what about the thing where he ditched the task of picking me up to our dad?"

"Did he say he had to work?"

"From what I hear, yeah."

"Dean does that..." Jo poked at her salad with a look of concentration. "He hasn't given any implication that something is wrong, but I think that he might have some problems over at the station; he spends so much more time there than before." The girl chewed her lip, frowning. "I think he's also been more quiet. You remember all the teasing flirting and ass-grabbing I had to endure for years?" Sam nods. "Well there's not much of that either, these days. This is just me talking, though, I have literally no effing idea what Mary thinks is up with him. Maybe she knows something. Or maybe it's nothing and I'm just overanalyzing."

The others at the table didn't look like they had noticed anything odd, so Sam just turned back to his dinner and made a mental note to talk to Mary later.

* * *

The next afternoon the brothers went to have their traditional brotherly bonding time at the nearby diner, as Mary had dubbed it. They did this every time Sam showed his face in Kansas, and since Dean always insisted that nothing ever happened to him Sam usually just told him all that had happened in his life.

It was so normal that Sam easily could have forgotten all about the weirdness of the day before if it wasn't for some small things. Like how Dean texted occasionally throughout the day. He claimed he didn't like texting much, but maybe it was an acquired taste. Sam was occupied with telling his brother all about Jess and how great she was, and he knew they were both grinning like a couple of maniacs on a sugar high.

So when Dean failed to notice their perky waitress insistently flirting with him, he didn't say anything. Sam hadn't said anything when Dean left the house in running gear in the morning, either.

On the way back home he just couldn't keep his silence anymore when Dean started singing Led Zeppelin's _Thank You_. Sam had to snort at that. "What happened to the obnoxiously loud ego-boosting rock, Dean? I think that falls into the category of 'sappy slow sad songs' you always mock Jo about."

"Shut it, heathen. Zeppelin's a classic."

That evening they had a slightly larger dinner for the family and friends to properly catch up, which was every bit as chaotic as one might expect but Sam was on top of the world, having missed these people horribly. He only wished Jess could be there with him, he'd so have to bring her sometime. Then it would be perfect.

Bobby and John were still going on about business while Ellen and Mary made plans for the actual Thanksgiving dinner. Jo wasn't talking to him because he'd thoroughly kicked her ass at Mario Kart earlier, so he'd been chatting with Dean's boss Rufus and Pam from next door. The old coot was raving about his (probably illegal) firearm collection while Pam was laughing her ass off at the crazy vibes radiating from the guy. Sam saw his chance to escape and slinked away, intent on making his daily call to Jess when he had the time. What he got instead was an armful of dirty plates from John, accompanied with a grumbled 'you do this, youth'.

So the kitchen it was. A while later he could hear two people coming towards the room, and Dean appeared in the doorway. Mary trailed in after him, continuing their conversation.

"Honey, I'm just saying that I want to help." Sam heard Dean make an aborted sound of protest before their mother shushed him. "Don't start that with me again, young man! I'm your _mother_, for crying out loud, it's my job to worry and be scarily into my children's business. You're not fooling anyone; even John thinks something's up! Could you just tell your poor old mom what's bothering you?"

They might not have noticed Sam in the kitchen corner piling dishes, but he'd certainly heard them. With that level of volume the others were bound to notice something soon, too. He'd always thought that Mary was sneaky like that: now Dean had basically no choice but to talk to her, even if it was just to shut her up.

"_Mooom_," Dean groaned and covered his face with both hands.

"It's work, isn't it?" Mary leaned towards her son with a troubled expression. "You're there all the time, that's the thing?"

"Nothing is wrong! The department's fine, just fucking believe it already and _don't go talking to Rufus about this!"_

"Language, Dean! Then it's something else, let's hear it!"

"I'M FINE – hey, dad"

"Mary, Dean? What's with the yelling in my house? You're scaring the guests."

"It's not just your house..."

"Shh, Dean! Dean was just about to explain to us why he's been acting out lately, right hon?"

Sam could see that John wasn't as enthusiastic as Mary about the subject of harassing information out of his son. "Uh..." John shuffled next to his wife and took a long-suffering breath. "In that case, spit it out son."

"As much as I love our 'family sharing-is-caring' -moments, there is nothing to tell!"

Their Mom sighed and and looked at him as one would look at a slightly slow toddler. "Oh yeah? You're never home; you always hang out at work for some reason, you've had at least five doctor's appointments in the last two months..." Mary listed on her fingers as John stood there frowning slightly. Which was nothing out of the ordinary, Sam supposed. "You don't even eat like you used to and you've taken up running in the morning! Well, that and the long walks."

At this point Sam decided it was time to offer his own insightful opinion on the matter. "Mom's totally right about those things, Dean." His older brother turned to him, eyes screaming betrayal, and Sam had to swallow before continuing. "Jo said the exact same stuff earlier. And I've been here barely two days and even I can see something's amiss here."

John contemplated the statement a bit and spoke up. "I'm not so sure about this myself, but this is apparently a common concern in this family, Dean. Something you wanna share after all?"

Before he could throw some more sparkles of denial around, Sam piped in. "_And_ Jo says that you've stopped dating – well, sleeping around – and flirting. I'd have never believed that if I hadn't seen it with my own eyes today at the diner."

Dean seemed to be stuck silent. The three other Winchesters let the silence hang heavy for a while. Suddenly Sam realised just how quiet it was all around; Jo, Ellen and Bobby had either given them some privacy, or then they were somewhere listening carefully. He would bet his left sideburn that Jo would be hiding just behind the corner, the nosy dweeb.

Mary finally moved, drawing in a shaky breath. "Dean..." The older brother looked up pleadingly. _That's right, you jerk_, Sam thought. _You aren't getting out of this now_. Mom was never gonna drop it. "If it isn't work problems or girl trouble, you'll leave me assuming the worst and that is something no mother should ever have to endure." Dean visibly swallowed while John just continued to look increasingly uncomfortable. Mom throwing the guilt card always worked on Dean.

"You're shying away from people and the doctor's visits tell their own story." She lowered her voice a little. "Thank god you're too young for cancer, or at least I hope that would be something you'd tell us about, but... do you – You don't have anything life-threatning, right darling? Like HIV?"

Sam could almost literally hear his jaw snap open. _What?_ John began frowning like it was an Olympic sport and Dean was likely suffocating on his own spit, judging by the sputtering.

"Jesus mom, NO!"

"What am I supposed to think! You know we will love you despite of –"

"MOM I DON'T HAVE AIDS"

"... Y'know son, your mother has a point. This makes too much sense especially when we're talking about you –"

"_What the fuck is that supposed to mean?_" Dean's voice is dangerously near to screeching now. Sam feels like laughing and running back to California at the same time; family dinner as usual, then.

"What John is trying to say is that we wouldn't care and these things just happen sometimes!"

"_Fine!_" Dean yelled with an air of desperation. Now Sam was the one dumbstruck. "Wait – you actually have HIV?"

"NO!" Everyone stood still, waiting for Dean to share with the class. Honestly, the man looked like he was borderline panicking; what the actual fuck was happening? Sam abruptly remembered why he should visit more, lest the place fall apart.

The older brother raised his chin and collected himself before talking in a barely audible voice. "I've met... the times I've been somewhere – work, hospital, whatever – well I wasn't?" Eloquent, as usual. "I was seeing this guy. Cas." Sam's brain experienced some sort of overload. What?

"_Oohhh_, this explains everything! My Dean has a steady relationship, finally?" Dean looked away and flinched, as if preparing to be hit with a bat, before nodding. "Honey that's wonderful, my boy has a boyfriend! This makes so much sense."

"This doesn't make any sense!" John looked like someone had shown him the matrix or something. "We didn't raise you like this? You like girls! Am I the only one not getting this?" This must've been the shitstorm Dean had been waiting and fearing, in the form of John Winchester's overly self-righteous anger.

"John! A word, outside? Now." Mary dragged her husband out, leaving the brother's in awkward silence in the otherwise empty kitchen. Sam couldn't resist for long, though.

"So... gay, huh?" He said, grinning at his brother. "Gotta say Dean, that's a new one."

"The term is 'bisexual', asshat. And don't you worry, you're still the bitch of the family."

"As if, you jerk!" Yep, Sam believed they'd be okay.

* * *

Epilogue: Dean and Cas

"... And that's basically what happened."

Dean fell silent, still caressing the back of Cas's head which had been resting on Dean's shoulder for the whole duration of the story. Cas made a small humming noise of acknowledgement and tilted his face towards Dean's own.

They had been at Cas's apartment, lying in bed enjoying their post-orgasmic haze when Dean had decided that it was as good a time as any to bring Cas up to date on the clusterfuck that was the Winchester family situation. If Dean was being honest, it had gone over better than he'd ever dared to hope. Mostly thanks to Mary, of course. Cas had known his reasons for not telling his folks anything about him, but judging by the small satisfied smile on Cas's face now he was not-so-secretly glad Dean's family had dragged his petrified, angst-ridden ass out of the figurative closet.

"I do believe things will be easier from now on," Cas muttered. "You won't have to feign sickness every time someone sees you near the hospital, for one." He shifted so that he lay almost completely on Dean and peered down at him teasingly. "Really, though? AIDS?"

The other man groaned at the general unfairness or the world at large and smacked Cas on the ass just to be sure. "I'm not that big of a whore! I hate everyone. _Everyone_. I take up running and start taking a little better care of myself and people automatically assume I'm dying of my own stupidity, when in reality I have a boyfriend I run with in the mornings. And it's not my fault you're a health nut! I'm just giving you some peace of mind, easing off the greasy stuff."

Cas chuckled, but he still had a pensive look lingering in his eyes. "But what about your father? Sounds like he isn't exactly 'okay' with this – me – from what you told me."

"Dad?" Dean smiled wryly. "That was to be expected, really. Mom said he'd handle him and that I shouldn't worry my pretty head with it."

"Well, it is rather pretty..." Cas sighed in Dean's mouth, kissing him sweetly. The taller man was very much on board with that, but apparently Cas wasn't done questioning him.

"So what did you tell them about me?"

"Well I told them you are a little older than me, that you live close by, and that you're a doctor because of your fuckhuge hero complex and bleeding heart." Cas huffed at that, bumping Dean's face with his nose. "Hey! What else could I have said? Maybe it would have been better if I'd told them how soft your hair is? How good you fill me up? What pretty noises you make when I arch my hips just so and you hit that one spot –"

"Somehow I'm not surprised that you managed to turn a simple discussion about your family into me considering having you the second time in as many hours." Dean's face was now probably stretched into a huge-ass grin, but it was funny how he really didn't care. Cas was awesome.

"Oh, and I was made to show them a picture of you," he added. "Can you believe how long it took to find one sodding pic on my cell that was family-friendly? Thank god Sammy didn't get his dirty paws on the thing, I don't even wanna think about what the fucking Yeti could've found."

"But you have plenty of normal photos of us, you could have shown any of them."

"Wrong; I have extremely sappy pics of us doing ridiculously sappy stuff. It's all very mushy-mushy, and definitely _not_ something you show to your asshole brother and homophobic father while explaining your gay relationship. I'd never live it down."

The other man seemed to accept the explanation after a small pause. Then a thought occurred to him. "Then which one did you show them?"

"Uh," Dean rubbed his eyes, as if seeking to wipe the memory straight off his retinas. "The choice was far from ideal but I had to pick something. It was the one of you feeding the squirrels that one afternoon, in the park? Anyway, that's sappy as fuck, too, you goddamn princess, but at least I'm not changing spit with you or feeding you ice cream in it." He threw his head back and rolled his eyes while Cas just smiled at the memory. It had been a beautiful day, and he did like animals. The squirrels had been all fluffy and feeding them never failed to make Cas feel better.

"You're smiling about the fuzzy tree-rats again, aren't you?" To Dean it was kind of amazing how quickly Cas's expression of ecstasy over thinking of rodents could melt into a glare. "My god, could you be a little bit less gay? Like a whole day of not so gayness. You could try at Thanksgiving dinner tomorrow, since you're now invited by the way."

_'Finally'_ thought Cas looking down at the grinning face below him. "Though I have to warn you: Sam's already laughing at me and your gay face and Mom thinks you're pretty which can't be good."

"But Dean, I am gay and pretty." Cas lowered his head to brush his lips against Dean's.

"So not the point." Dean rolled them so that he was pinning Cas to the mattress. "Since I am not needed at the station and you're off the clock for the holidays too, I'm just gonna go ahead and stay here for the the night. Now, I remember someone making threats about there being a round two?" Cas had to laugh as Dean wiggled his brows at him. "Wanna see if I'm wet enough from before? You shot me up so nicely earlier that I'm still dripping babe." He leaned down to nibble at Cas's throat. "We wouldn't have to waste any more lube. Think about the environment, Cas."

"When you put it like that, it's hard to refuse. Now come here and kiss me."

* * *

_Led Zeppelin's Thank You is an amazing experience to offer your ears, by the way :)_

_I bet each of you have something on your lovely minds, so come say hello and/or review this!_


End file.
